1. Field of the Invention
The present embodiments relate to methods, systems, and programs for replicating data in a scale-out networked storage system.
2. Description of the Related Art
Network storage, also referred to as network storage systems or storage systems, is computer data storage connected to a computer network providing data access to heterogeneous clients. Typically network storage systems process a large amount of Input/Output (TO) requests, and high availability, speed, and reliability are desirable characteristics of network storage.
Sometimes data is copied from one system to another, such as when an organization upgrades to a new data storage device, when backing up data to a different location, or when backing up data for the purpose of disaster recovery. The data needs to be migrated or replicated to the new device from the old device.
However, when transferring large volumes of data, there could be some glitches during the transfer/replication process, and some of the data may be improperly transferred. It may be very expensive resource wise to retransfer all the data, because it may take a large amount of processor and network resources that may impact the ongoing operation of the data service. Also, when data is being replicated to a different storage system, there could be a previous snapshot of the data in both systems. If a change is detected between snapshots being replicated, it may be very expensive to transmit over the network large amounts of data if only a small portion of the data has changed. Further yet, if a common base snapshot is lost, resending all the data may be very expensive.
What is needed is a network storage device, software, and systems that provide verification of the correct transfer of large amounts of data from one system to another, as well as ways to correct errors found during the replication process.
It is in this context that embodiments arise.